My friends often jokingly quip, “Just about time for some Botox, ladies!” when sighing over the ephemeral nature of the human body. It’s good to remember to ‘think again’ about our real nature and substance, as my colleague Tony Lobl suggests in this guest post, which first appeared on The Huffington Post UK.

“Your bags will be on carousel B – that’s ‘B’ for Botox”.

This quip from the Virgin Atlantic flight service manager got a laugh from the passengers as we touched down in the City of Angels, Los Angeles, where agelessness is often at a premium.

But to many of Hollywood’s finest – and to the rest of us – staving off evidences of mortality is no joke, as the statistics show.

Last year Botox alone pulled in $0.7 billion dollars in America for its cosmetic uses. (It made as much again for its use as a medicine.) Its popularity continues to grow even in hard times, according to the Financial Times.Continue Reading